The VIIIth Gate
by xEpIcxXxfAiLx
Summary: An artist with the ability to paint scenes from her head, but from another set of eyes. A group of individuals with shady pasts, and a young man trying not to get killed for something he never did. Ansem is out to get him. Romance is unsure.


This is my first story in a while, and I hope that it interests people. I can't guarantee any romance what so ever between my OC and Axel, which may be a disappointment or a relief to some of you. All this is meant to be is a story so please just enjoy yourselves, read, review if you like. Critiquing would be greatly appreciated! As would any questions you may have.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters or titles from said series. But I wish I did.

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><p><em>I'm so tired today… Why am I even bothering?<em>

The glum thoughts came to her head, clouding her thoughts so that she was no longer consumed by the tired groggy ideas. She needed to stay positive, today was her interview with the college, they'd been intrigued by her portfolio despite her cruddy grades from high school. Right now was supposed to feel like a moment of luck, shining down on her but it still felt like all it was really was life dragging her around.

"Hey. You're about to miss your bus." Someone said in her ear and she almost screamed, her eyes widening a little as she jerked to look at the speaker. An abnormally tall man, not much older than herself stood next to her, barely a smile to his face but for some strange reason she could just notice the corners of his mouth twitching upward. It wasn't as if he had meant to startle her, he was just being polite and reminding her that she had a place to be. "Right… Thank you." She murmured, looking away from the mesmerizing green eyes she had barely managed to catch sight of.

He seemed to follow her onto the bus crowded with other people, tired, grumpy, and wet on this drizzly morning. There was a bit of relief in her chest when he took his place farther up in the bus holding onto one of the grips hanging down from the ceiling. Her heart seemed to pound with the rain pattering on the roof, making her wonder if this was all a mistake. Why was it that she felt like this? Why-

She stumbled forward as the brakes were pulled without her notice. A group of people almost toppled over because she hadn't been the only one knocked out of her quiet reverie. There were several accusations hurled at the driver, saying he did it on purpose but the girl didn't care. What had her last thoughts been? Frowning, she shook her head, deciding it was best not to remember, she just needed to focus.

Stepping off of the bus, Nyx forced herself to look up at the large campus building though she knew she'd get hit in the face with cold rain. It hadn't even occurred to her that she had gotten off at the same place as her mysterious stranger. Walking closer to the building, he went around the other way while she walked straight ahead even through large puddles.

It was a guilty pleasure, the rain and water was soothing, it did better than any therapist ever would because nothing else made her forget what she was doing like the rain did. A small smile slipped across her lips as her boots made small squeaking noises on the hard wood floors, causing the receptionist to grimace in an unlady-like manner.

"Owens, Nyx." The girl said her name politely while the receptionist looked down the list of visitors to see the Dean. "Yes, take a seat, the Dean will be with you shortly. Go on, no one will be in his office." The woman instructed so Nyx walked in, feeling a bit… Rushed.

Looking around at all of the books collected into one room, she felt almost like she was at home; though it was obviously much cleaner in the office.

"Ah… You're quite early. Never mind though, that's better than what I can say for most of our current students." The Dean seemed to mutter as he walked in from behind her, though she did her best not to act surprised.

"So I've been looking over your portfolio Nyx… It's quite impressive." Xemnas commented, picking up one of the canvas' next to his desk. Nyx looked at the plaque on the desk once more to make sure she was right about his name. "The art you've shown us is dark, disturbing, yet incredibly emotional and serving to your plight." He said, facing her directly now. Looking at his gold-colored eyes she wondered whether or not he thought she was crazy too. "I hope you don't mind that I've looked into your personal files, as well as your personal essay for admission to the college. Your story is frightfully intriguing, and least to say I hope you'll pull through these experiences as you work through here in the college." He told her, his voice mostly business-like, but there was something to it that told her there was more that he wasn't telling her.

Once she realized what Xemnas was telling her, she didn't know whether to be glad or frightened. Nyx needed the chance to socialize so school had been the most obvious choice, she still hadn't been to college and she was already twenty, almost twenty one. "I… Thank you, sir." She finally began to speak causing Xemnas to chuckle a little at her dazed expression. "The head of the art Department would love to speak with you once you're officially logged into the school mainframe." She was told before nodding almost blankly.

"You seem quite tired… Why don't you go home and get some rest? I can call you another time and explain the details over the phone." Xemnas offered knowing most of what he was saying wasn't even getting through to her; it was all just nonsense to her ears. "Um, okay." Nyx said, feeling a little bad for coming here and then kind of zoning out on the man. Standing up from her chair she left the room and walked back outside, giving a small wave to the receptionist as she passed.

All she wanted to do was go home and paint, or curl up with her cats and hide under the covers. It felt so cold and wet everywhere. Standing at the bus stop she glanced back at the school, looking at the plain brown brick walls. The building looked so plain and normal, but it felt different like there was something unusual about it. Her eyes latched onto the hooded figure leaning against the vertex of two walls, brownish red hair poking out from under the hood when a man with light blue hair joined him. The blue haired man spoke, and she squinted a little, trying to make out words just from the movements.

_So you came. Good. Regrettably, there isn't much room, but I've convinced him to give you some sort of work, and a place to stay until it's safe to leave._

It was hard to make out the words, but she had been able to place things together well enough to figure it out. What was he hiding from? Who were they anyway? Why- A light screeching noise interrupted her thoughts, causing her to glance at the bus that had come to a stop beside her. It was too late to find out, or she'd miss her bus. It made her think of the stranger, the one with green eyes. Walking up the stairs, she wished he were walking behind her again though she couldn't tell anyone why.

"You comin' lady?" The driver asked rudely, causing her to glare and stomp up the stairs, dropping the change into the slot. "Jerk…" She muttered before taking her seat in the back, actually managing to fall asleep till the last call where the driver kicked her off. It'd be a long walk home… But she had plenty to think about.

It took a while until Nyx finally reached the outskirts of the city; it wasn't as if she was in a rush to get home again. All that waited there were her cats, Dai and Nox, both just kittens as far as she was concerned. A small frown continued to stay on her lips as she walked farther into the city, her fingers barely grazing against frosty shop windows. It was so cold out today it made her fingers feel like ice and her legs stiff with cold, being as she hadn't felt the need to wear anything long. Long clothes just got wet, and even more cold in the rain didn't they?

Pausing in front of the shop she looked up at the sign for the shop, _Ienzo Books, _it read in italic cursive script. Obviously the owners name was Ienzo, deciding it was time to head in from the cold for a bit so shake off the numb feeling in her legs, she pulled the door open just in time to help someone out. A tall blond scrambled past her, "Thank you! Excuse me, sorry." He seemed to ramble as he ran out with a large stack of books, all neatly wrapped in brown butcher paper. Glancing back at him as people practically dove out of his way, she finally walked in; otherwise she'd let out all the warm air.

Just a glance around the shop could tell her that the owner really meant business. There were books stuffed into the shelves. They reached from the bottom of the floor to the top of the ceiling, packed with everything from the latest read to books looking like they'd probably been there since before her parents had even been conceived.

"Can I help you?" A male's voice asked and Nyx had to pick up one of the stacks on the front counter to see the face of a man probably not even six years older than her. "No… Not really. What are you reading?" She asked, glancing at the leather bound tome in hopes of answering her own question. "I'm not sure… But it's kind of interesting." He replied, only glancing up from the book momentarily to get a glimpse of who he was talking to. Nodding once, she went silent before wandering farther into the shop wondering if she could get lost. It looked so much bigger inside than it had outside, but this was to be expected, shops around here were always much bigger inside than out.

Wandering into another section, she could see where there may have been a book-avalanche earlier and began to stack them up until the books were no longer being bent or put into worse shape than they already were. Walking past, she saw a stray coffee maker set up for customers in case if they were here late, or had the same sleepy cozy feeling she was getting.

Nyx couldn't help but smile, whether or not it was a humorous gesture, she was sure most customers enjoyed a quick and most importantly free, cup of coffee. She'd have to fall asleep on the bus more; it wasn't like she came all the way out to this area often. "Thanks for picking up the stack… I would've done it myself." The same voice from earlier sounded behind her, causing her to glance back at the man from the front desk. "It's not a problem… Inside joke?" She asked, pointing to the . The man simply smiled a little, "Some library humor I guess… We borrow and sell books here, feel free to come talk to me if you find something you like." He told her before making himself a cup of coffee.

As she wandered farther into the book maze, she wondered whether or not she'd see the green eyed man again. Part of her hoped yes, the other part said no. It wasn't likely that she'd meet the stranger again, but when she thought about it, it no longer seemed so unlikely. The city was big, but if someone took a bus they usually took it to the same place often. Cars weren't so abundant with the lack of space- a grimace took over her face. Why was she putting so much thought into all of this? He wasn't the perfect stranger or anything; just a nice guy who had helped her out by reminding her that this was reality and not some day dream.

Only sometime after reminding herself that her thoughts were often idiotic and pointless had Nyx left the shop for home. Her kittens needed food, laundry needed to be done, but more importantly she needed to paint. It felt like her head would burst soon if she didn't get down into her basement and drench a few canvases in paint.

It was completely automatic as she walked into her house, struggling to get her boots off while Dai and Nox cuddled on the floor around her feet. Finding and opening cans of wet cat food for the two mewling cat-children was a task, her eyes and mind flooding with too many ideas at once. Settling the cans down on the floor for them, she rubbed behind their ears for a moment before passing the living room entry to go down the basement stairs instead. Her steps only slowed so she could look at the walls and ceiling to study the stars she'd painted their as a child with her mother. The entire basement had been painted as the sky, a fade from dark blue to pitch black, blotted here and there with the stars and moon. It had been her greatest work, or so her mother had told her that once, a long time ago.

Canvas was leaned up against one of the walls carefully, as well as bins full of art supplies all to her liking. Her entire life she had painted in this room, otherwise her work felt empty and uninspired… Maybe it was because all of her fondest memories were here.

"_We can live here in this handsome house Nee, see? Look at the pretty flowers on that lattice."_

That was her very first memory, or the earliest she could recall from when she was two years old and her, her mother, and her father had first moved into the house. Of course with the good came the bad, not long after her father had left her mother for another woman, she had been five years old at the time.

Letting out a small sigh, she dipped her brush into the paint before easily leading a thick red line across the stark white canvas. Another line appeared soon, and then more, simply in different shades of red. Piercing red scenes stared back at her, though she didn't flinch away, she just kept letting her brush slide against the canvas. The eyes took on a gentler, woe-begotten look as she added eyebrows, a nose, lips, and hair. Another frown found her lips as she stared back at herself as she was now, only her hair was red, her eyes were red, her nose was red, and everything else was red too.

Reaching out to her laptop, she clicked on her music files before setting it onto a playlist completely composed of classical music from movies. It filled her head with ideas that slowly made their way onto another empty canvas, creating a blue swirling scene of rain, reminding her of this morning. The scene seemed almost surreal even though she'd experienced it only hours ago. In the corner though, she could see the hooded figure though, his face still empty and shadowed by the hood he wore, and the blue haired man just behind him. Why she had added him, she had no idea.

Looking down at herself, she only began to notice that her hands were absolutely covered in blue, purple, and red paint. Feeling like this was probably the sign that painting time was over for now, she set down her brushes and walked back up to the ground floor before going upstairs to her bathroom.

It was obvious that this was routine, many of the soap bottles and shampoos were covered in bits of paint from other days where she had mysteriously wandered up in search of cleanliness. Scrubbing off the layers of paint Nyx felt a little bit naked, like it was her skin that she was getting rid of instead of excess paint from becoming too consumed by work. Looking at the colors flow down the drain she felt like there was a small smile somewhere, begging to be let out. She didn't feel like it though, she just wanted to go to bed and wait for tomorrow.

Looking at herself through the foggy shower glass, she silently wondered whether or not she was truly ready to go back into public again, be surrounded by people. Would it ever feel the same? Looking down at her pruning fingers, the small shakes still going through them reminded her that she would never be normal. Or at least not the sense of normal that society tried to put on the rest of the people around her. Plus, she didn't want to be alone forever; Dai and Nox were her children but… That couldn't be all there was to life, as much as she loved and cherished the kittens.

It made her wonder though, whether or not this move of hers towards becoming more social was really to find someone to love. Maybe she just hoped to understand why she saw the things she did when she closed her eyes, why she wasn't bothered by them.


End file.
